Spinal injury treatment trials move to humans

A trial using stem cells to treat spinal injury is to begin after promising results in animals.

Patients with spinal cord injuries will be the first humans to receive cells derived from embryonic stem cells as the first ever clinical trial received the go-ahead from the US Food and Drug Administration after promising results in rat studies. The trial will involve patients who are paralysed from the chest down, and hopes to ‘mend’ their spines by injecting injury sites with stem cells to restore connections and repair damage.

This is a direct consequence of previous research with these cells involving rats. The promising results obtained showed that after treatment with the cells, mobility was improved in rats with spinal injuries. The treated rats could walk better, and post-mortems showed that the injected cells had multiplied in the injury site and restored lost connections. The hope now is that the same will happen in people.